Mobile device battery life is of growing importance for manufacturers, service providers and mobile device users. One significant battery consuming operation of mobile devices in idle state is cell reselection. As mobile data service becomes increasingly popular, service providers are deploying more base stations to increase network capacity. Thus, in modern mobile networks, a user equipment (UE), such as a smartphone, is in the coverage of increasingly more base stations, and experiences more system reselection and handover between the base stations and corresponding cells. Frequent back and forth cell reselection between the same two (or more) cells occurs in reselection regions where cell areas are overlapped and mobile devices become stationary or move slowly. Customer reports and field test show that frequent back and forth cell reselection between the same two (or more) cells is common, causing more battery power consumption and poor user experience. A scheme for reducing the number of unnecessary reselections is needed.